Follow my regular Sunday postings illustrating past and present stock photos I've seen, shot and sold… and for some insight into why and how I thought they would turn into extra income! There will be a few surprises – not least to myself – but you will quickly realize that there are actually no real surprises when it comes to profitable stock photography. Not only can any image sell if the right market is found… but markets can be found before images are even created in the camera. All it takes is a searching eye and an inquisitive mind… so read on, learn and enjoy ~ Ed Buziak.

#25 – Where there’s muck there’s brass!

Supermarket rubbish, France. [Alamy image ref. B4P8XB]

It was one of those half-day Monday mornings… the specialist workshop on my shopping list for five specific bolts for a replacement chain wheel on my fixie bike was closed until after lunch, so I had an hour or two to kick my heels… or, as it was a sunny day with a clear French blue sky, search out some potential subjects for image stock.

It turned out quite well… cruising around from car-park to car-park I took around a hundred shots of a couple of dozen store name boards and fronts which edited down to over thirty images for Alamy. And a few have since sold for use in annual trade directories covering the Poitiers / Chatellerault (Vienne département) area of France.

What always strikes me as funny is that the most unattractive views and ugly details can make very saleable shots… although, when I think about it, much of the environment we work in is quite a mess visually… so perhaps published reminders of how we transform the world with our rubbish acts as a timely message that something has to be done to cut down on the packaging of excess consumption soon or it will eventually swamp us all!

However, with this particular image… I had taken a good selection of images of the “InterMarché” superstore frontage from various angles, when I spotted towards the goods delivery entrance perhaps fifty large bundles of compressed cardboard packaging awaiting collection for recycling. There being no-one about (lunchtime for the back-room workers) I was able to take my time in selecting an interesting angle with regard to the sun and shadows. Unfortunately, the best angle included tall lampposts… the worst of which I was tempted to clone-out in PhotoShop.

Incidentally, for a couple of years most of my stock shots were made with the fast, heavy and expensive 14~24mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom. But, I eventually came to a decision to sell it because it was too noticeable – creating unwanted attention from subjects – and too vulnerable – attracting unwanted attention from dodgy characters who, if they had prised it from my cold, dead hands, would have probably flogged it for £25 down a dark back alley. Although the latter is a bit far-fetched, what also strengthened my decision to sell was that it became very awkward to carry whilst cycling on my non-touring style gear-less cycle. Bombing downhill with legs pedalling furiously (I ride a fixed-gear remember) created painful bruising in the ribs region with almost 2,000 gms / 4 lbs of solid metal and glass (attached to a D300) slung over one’s shoulder. I eventually downgraded to a small, cheap 24mm f/2.8 Nikkor which, as well as being pocketable in my smart jacket, released me from being overcautious in crowded foreign places. I did similar with my equally cumbersome 70~200 f/2.8 Nikkor… but that’s another story for another Sunday.

Nevertheless, the image was licensed by Alamy for a use in a Canadian textbook with a print run of up to 10,000 1/4 page size inside (plus an e-book) under my “a la france” pseudonym. That, and a handful of others from that lunchtime made the shopping trip very worthwhile… including spending time photographing rubbish. As that old Yorkshire saying goes… “Where there’s muck there’s brass!”